


combat

by platonics



Series: femslash february 2020! [13]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, Femslash February, Found Family, Hospitals, Love/Hate, Moral Ambiguity, Post-Canon, Secret Relationship, Sneaking Around, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-16
Updated: 2020-02-16
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:35:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22750360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/platonics/pseuds/platonics
Summary: Emotional combat was easy too, when she needed to engage in it. Easy enough to feel shameful, like scratching an itch she shouldn't have. An itch named Shirogane Tsumugi, who didn't know how to die.
Relationships: Harukawa Maki & Saihara Shuichi & Yumeno Himiko, Harukawa Maki/Shirogane Tsumugi
Series: femslash february 2020! [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1620463
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	combat

**Author's Note:**

> maki was an obvious choice for the combat prompt, i mean, come on. but surprise, it's psychological combat.
> 
> au where tsumugi survived along with the others (tho the debris did injure her). i like this ship post-game more than i probably should
> 
> also there's a hint of background saimeno that could be interpreted as either platonic or romantic rly, whichever you want

Maki was made for combat. Not even in a metaphorical sense, the way most people might mean it when they said they were made for something or other. She was literally made for it. Whoever she was in the past was gone now. She had no memory of the Harukawa Maki who joined Danganronpa, and she doubted she ever would. The person she was now was defined by the mastermind's whims. The character arcs the season called for.

She was an assassin, plain and simple. An emotionless killing machine. Weapons, physical combat, intimidation. She was built of rusty knives, all sharp edges. Nothing soft in sight. It was Kaito who did that, sanded off her angles and thawed her atrophied heart. She was still learning what to do with her feelings again, brain convinced she hadn't felt them in years.

The positive ones were hesitant, like flowers poking up through the cracks in the sidewalk, stretching towards the sun and hoping spring spelled the end of frosty nights.

Anger welled up more easily, white-hot and untamed. Emotional combat was easy too, when she needed to engage in it. Easy enough to feel shameful, like scratching an itch she shouldn't have.

An itch named Shirogane Tsumugi, who didn't know how to die.

She sat prim and proper in her hospital bed, a cast as blue as her hair enveloping her arm. Nobody had signed it — Maki could see that much from where she stood, just barely inside the doorway. Instead, Shirogane seemed to have doodled on it with her other hand, little Monokumas and Enoshimas and Danganronpa logos. It would be easy to think it was an act of psychological warfare, an attempt to mess with the other survivors if they happened to come visit her, but Maki knew better. Shirogane just genuinely loved her twisted stories that much.

Her hair fell in tangled, slightly greasy waves against the fabric of her hospital gown. The dark shadows under her eyes hinted at a lack of sleep, or perhaps nightmares. Either way, Maki was glad. It was what she deserved.

"You called," she said, voice clipped. How Shirogane had even gotten her number, she didn't know. Her phone was brand new, purchased just a few days ago when she, Shuichi, and Himiko were discharged.

"Yes, and I'm so glad you came," Shirogane said, flashing a fake, TV-perfect smile her way. Maki wanted to punch her hard enough to chip some teeth. Instead she just stood there, arms crossed tightly across her chest. The others didn't know she was here, and making a scene would guarantee this visit becoming public knowledge. She didn't want to burden them.

"I've missed you all, you know," she continued, and Maki gritted her teeth. "You're still my precious friends."

"Just get on with it. What do you want?"

"Company. That's all. It gets a little lonely here, and it'll be awhile longer before I'm discharged. I thought you might like to stay and chat awhile." It didn't take a genius to tell that that reeked of bullshit. There was no way it could be so simple. She scoffed, another wave of anger washing over her. She knew at least fifty different ways to kill her, and the fact that she wouldn't be able to get away with a single one right now was infuriating.

"If it's a conversation partner you want, why me? I didn't think I ever gave off the impression of being the chatty type."

"That's true, but I know all of you, inside and out. If anyone can get you to open up, it should be me." Malice flashed in those cold, blue-gray eyes, and Maki was sinking into a chair before Shirogane could even finish. "Besides, you wouldn't have let Saihara-kun or Yumeno-san come here anyway, would you? Just like they probably wouldn't have let you if they knew."

Her eyes must have widened slightly, something to give away her surprise, and Shirogane pounced on it.

"Not a very good way to start off a life together, is it? Lying to them about talking to me?"

"You have no right to talk to anyone about lies," Maki said. "And I have no intention of talking to you again. Don't act like this is a recurring thing."

She meant it, or she thought she did. But it happened again anyway. And again. And again.

She told herself it would end when Shirogane got out of the hospital, but it didn't. If anything, it intensified, being alone in the privacy of her apartment. Heated conversations grew physical, until she knew the feeling of having a handful of Shirogane's hair and the sweet taste of her lips against her own, the rough scrape of teeth against her neck or roving hands over fictional scars.

It felt like a betrayal when she thought of Shuichi and Himiko. She often went out while they were asleep, tangled together in bed and clinging like they were each other's life rafts. Meanwhile, she had Shirogane's biting words echoing in her mind on repeat, and an apartment to sneak out of, always before dawn.

Maki had never killed, not outside of her fabricated backstory. She'd never even been seriously violent with someone since the end of the killing game. Maybe this emotional battle, this psychological combat was what she needed to sate that part of her. It got the cruelty and anger out so she could take care of her friends.

They did say 'keep your friends close and your enemies closer.' Even this evil could be used for something.

**Author's Note:**

> thinking abt skipping ahead to day 16 from here and then i'll be back on track 🤔
> 
> it'll screw up the series numbering but that would've happened anyway with there being no 15 so that's probably what i'll do


End file.
